When Alex Scott stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before a mere 55 spectators in 2019, his manager at the time predicted, “we haven’t seen the best from this youngster.”
That statement turned out to be a bit of an underestimation.
Today aged 22 and a Premier League regular with the Cherries, the playmaker has earned his maiden call-up to the senior Three Lions squad.
His ascent from non-league prodigy to potential international star is a proper blast from the past, a story rarely told in the modern game.
What’s next? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of making it as a pro footballer, let alone playing in the top division and playing for the national team as well,” the player said previously.
“It has been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and things have changed completely for me and my family.”
But how did Alex Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, find himself at this level?
Learning in the lower tiers
Scott’s football journey has not been a conventional one.
He spent over four years in the Saints’ youth system starting at eight, skipping school each Friday to travel by air from his home on the Channel Island to the south coast so he could attend training and play for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before his 13th birthday, however, they decided to let him go. Bournemouth were willing to offer Scott an opportunity and he remained with them for a while, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind wasn’t fully committed.
Rather, he opted to stay on the island and play for his local team.
“I wasn’t playing very well and flying over weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he explained.
“All I desired to relax at home with my friends at the weekend because I had missed almost several years of doing that. Getting that little bit of youth back was a thing I definitely needed.
“To gain some confidence by coming back and taking part in island football was massive for me. It was perhaps the most crucial factors that led me to this point.”
When he was just 16, Scott made history as the youngest player in Guernsey’s history when he was introduced as a 57th-minute replacement in their Isthmian League fixture at the opposition.
“I’ve been having sleepless nights because I was figuring out how I could get him in the side because he’s that good,” manager the coach stated at the time.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s pure quality.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been tracking his early progress after an impressive beginning in men’s football and gave him a trial in December 2019.
“It was hectic,” recalled Scott. “The first day I joined the youth team, the next day I trained with the senior squad, which was a complete surprise.
“Midweek I featured for Guernsey FC in London, returned home and by Friday, I played for Bristol City Under-18s and scored a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to put pen to paper on a deal.”
In just a year and a half, still some way short of his 18th birthday, he was earning his senior debut versus Luton.
Scott went on to make eighty-three league appearances for the club while still a teenager, often being deployed as a wing-back – and sometimes further forward as a number 10 – demonstrating his adaptability and flexibility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his skill to drive the ball up the pitch, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he picked up the nickname ‘Guernsey’s Grealish’, a nod to City and national team attacking midfielder Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s young player of the season honour, was selected in the division’s best XI and was voted Bristol City’s player and young player of the Year.
“No doubt, I believe he’ll play for England and I’m sure he’ll go on to the top of the game,” his former manager, the player’s manager at Ashton Gate, remarked last year.
Within 90 days later, he signed for Bournemouth for a reported transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his big move
The midfielder experienced a challenging first season with the Cherries, having to wait until October to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in pre-season, and then finding himself in and out of the team.
His second campaign was just as disrupted, this time by a surgery which ruled him out for nearly several months.
“There was a decent run at the close of last season, which was nice to have, then I fractured my jaw,” said he.
“It was yet another obstacle and the year was turning out to be a pretty bad year for the first five months.”
But he was then selected by England for the Under-21 European Championships – and succeeded in get himself fit in time.
He started five of the England U21s’ six games as they went on to win the competition in the host nation, developing a formidable partnership in midfield with his teammate, who in turn has gone on to impress for the first team under Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season just as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in all matches to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special occasions of my career,” the player stated recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I must continue developing as a player, maintain my love for the game, improving every day, and hopefully I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
